Share this story

Discover a New Route, Follow It from Your Phone

If you’re like most athletes, you ride and run the same general routes because you know where to go and what to expect. But while familiar roads and trails are nice, sometimes your training requires you to switch it up: you might have to hit a target distance or elevation, or maybe you just want to explore somewhere new. Other times you may not have a choice – when you’re traveling, it’s hard to know where to go.

When you are coaching a runner for an event like the marathon, the terrain and routes you use are incredibly important. A tool like this provides the freedom to run more complicated and effective routes and, as a result, train better. I’m excited that my runners will be able to focus more on the pace and purpose of a workout and less on “was I supposed to turn there?”

– Jeff Knight, athlete and coach

That’s why we built Strava Routes, a tool to help you map out a route based on popular activities. You can pick a start and end point as well as many key points along the way to plot your trip. Using real athlete data to recommend the best roads and trails around the world, the Route Builder lets you create running and cycling routes that fit your preferences and goals.

Looking to turn your route into a reality? The latest version of the Strava mobile app lets you choose routes to follow so you can conquer new terrain with confidence. Tap “Select a Route” on the Map tab of the Record screen and pick your day’s adventure.

Routes that you create or star at Strava.com will automatically show up in your Routes list on your mobile device. Once you’re on your way, the Strava mobile app will keep you on course. Should you need to head back early, a “Route Back to Start” feature will plot the most efficient path back to the start of your activity.

Want to follow someone else’s route?

Star a route that a friend has shared with you to add it to your collection. If you want to create a route based on another athlete’s activity, use the Wrench icon on their activity page and select “Create Route”.

To celebrate Routes, we want to see where yours take you. Create a route, share it with your friends, and tag Instagram photos of your adventure with #stravaroutes.

More on Strava

This would be much more useful if it could switch to Open Street Maps and you could select between tracks for road or mountain bikes.

Ksenya

nice. have been using routes for a while now to map out courses for hikes. could you share more about the new mobile features? will it “keep you on course” with verbal navigation cues or beeps of any kind? do you have to pre-load a zoomed in version of the map before going out of signal range (in mountains) / turning to airplane mode (android)? on android there are no record buttons off the follow routes screen – do you have to first start recording and then select route (unclear)? can i search for routes from other users, or only use the ones i’ve starred when they created them and i saw the link in my feed, or if they’ve shared it with me as a link? thanks!

Matt Surch

What sort of data usage are we looking at here? I.e., can I load a route at home over WiFi, and my phone will cache the map? Or, will it be sucking data the whole time I’m out on the bike? 5 hours of the former would be a definite deterrent for me and others on meager data plans, I suspect.

Stefan

Can someone give us an answer regarding this topic?

Criggie

Answering my own question – looks like the iphone4 at least disables the GPS while airplane mode is on. Your results may vary, but its worth trying.

Brian C

I can still record hikes and rides on Airplane mode with my Samsung. It’ll update the ride later when i turn airplane mode off.

Criggie

My first answer looks to have been lost or rejected by strava moderators.

I said, I did a 20 km / 45 minute route around town, and made careful note of the 3G data usage before, immediately after, and about half an hour after. The phone went from .92 GB to .93 GB, so following the route used 10 megabytes, plus or minus 9.

I also suggested trying airplane mode, because GPS is only a receiver and not a transmitter, but that stopped the strava app from working on an iphone 4. You should try this though, your phone/device might be different.

Criggie

Final one – a 70 km ride used 40 Megabytes +- 9, that’s running the phone off an external battery, with the map following the whole way. That’s two data points, now its your turn to do some.

Helton Moraes

Despite the obvious application of this feature for COMMUTERS and casual riders alike, Strava seems to keep missing this segment, keeping every feature “performance oriented”. Of course Strava is great (the best I would say) for training logs and analysis, but there is a huge larger demand for utilitarian cycling among cell-phone-carrying bike riders than superficially meets the eye…

Mike Olund

Battery life on my iPhone is a big issue for me. I use a Garmin Edge 510 to record the actual data, but this could still be useful if I can start in the middle of a route and not at the beginning? Can I power on my phone for 20 minutes, navigate the tricky parts of the route, and then turn the phone off again? Or do I have to have the phone turned on for the entire ride?

Hmm seems that my two year old Motorola is not compatible with this latest update.. 🙁
Is there a list of compatible phones?

Charlie Tango

one of the biggest disadvantages of the new routes feature is the missing audio guidance. picking the phone from your jersey’s rear pocket ever 5-6 minutes is really annoying, especially when you’re following a route never ridden before. am i missing something (audio options, etc.?) or am I just right?

Nice to see as usual, a Windows Phone app has been ignored. When will Strava please support the platform?

Michael Henasey

Yes, Windows Phone, please!

Guest

Would love to use this if there was an App for Windows Phone.

David Wells

Please make a Windows Phone app

Todd Singleton

Well, you did buy a Windows phone. If you didn’t see the warnings about app compatibility you didn’t do much research.

pitchersdave

When will we be able to copy a route ridden straight into route builder? I often go on club rides on unfamiliar roads in my locality and would love to be able to replicate them, rather than have to plot them out in route builder, which takes a huge amount of time for a 100km+ ride!

Patrik Outericky

I just learned that you can do that now…. just go to the ride, hit the wrench and choose create route. Similar to the image above.

Turn by turn audio directions would be a home run… I’m sure a few wrecks can be attributed to digging for a phone while on route.

drusolini

Promising, but a bit frustrating on my first few tries! Please add cue sheets and turn-by-turn audio prompts. You have it on the website and print versions, why not in the app? At least add auto-rotation for the orientation of the map!

Luca Incarbone

Hi, really nice idea.
But have the screen on all the time have two big problems:
-battery life
-you have to watch your telephone and for some seconds you loose the eye on the road….

Can you provide a vocal navigation like: “turn left” “turn right” when you have to turn?
Screen will be off, the eyes will focus on the road and traffic, a simple hearphone as a pro.

I think that will not so hard to integrate this option, you did yet the most difficult part.

Thank you!
Luca

Klaas De Waele

I seem to be missing something… All this does is keep a map on screen with your location. You have to scroll around yourself, zoom in yourself (pinch and drag – try that on a phone holder while driving),… meaning the app does not auto-center and the zoom changes often when your screen goes on standby. This makes it straight dangerous. At least auto-center and keep the zoom at a chosen level. I’m definitely keeping to my free alternative here, with gpx support and intelligent enough to even know when to skip waypoints or auto-start wherever I want on the route. Strava, please check out OsmAnd for a good reference. Or… Am I REALLY missing something?

gregsmithies

So – audio route guidance, in my mind, is a no-brainer. To the point where I assumed that this would have it. I’m pretty sure it used to have it in the old version of the app. Nonetheless – strava’s lack of audio route guidance basically makes this feature useless. What, am I supposed to unsafely and at my peril remove my phone from my pocket, unlock it with one hand, all while at speed and expect not to die. Ridiculous. Add voice guidance and this would actually be useful. Why the rant? I just got lost 5-10 times on a ride because I stupidly assumed that the bloody app was going to give me route guidance. Why the F else would you have routes? Retarded and ridiculous oversight.

Victoria Ganley

I completely agree with the ‘Audio Cue’ request. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can we have this!? There’s nothing worst then having to stop on a ride and take my phone out of my bag to load a map to check where I am. Even if audio cues were too difficult (and could get a bit annoying in towns etc) wouldn’t it be simpler (and much more desirable) to have an audio cue (e.g. a beep) for when you deviate from the route? Then you know that if you don’t hear anything then your doing ok! I think something along these lines needs to be implicated, at least for the sake of safety.

kickstand

Would be great if I could browse other users’ public routes near me, like I can with Segments. But segments tend to be very short.

jwdbiz

Please can we have an update to this to have turn by turn directions???

merissarsilk

How do the routes work specifically? I had expected audio that would give instructions on how to follow the route as I’m running, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

Russ

Strava is great but nothing new what’s really annoying is why you can’t see you friends planned routes unless you save them

NIck

Would love to see the ability to organize/search/filter your routes. Its killing me sifting through each one manually one by one!

paul_paul

Only 2 things Strva need to do to make the service indispensable.

1) Cue sheet export to Garmin
2) Voice guidance

I have to take my routes planned on strava into another service to add turns etc for my Garmin 510. I also wear a bone conducting headset so Voice guidance would be an alternative to that on the app

Routes are great.
I’ve just started using Android app on SONY z2 (waterproof) bar mounted w. silicon type strap mount with routes/live map. Have now used on one road ride and one peri-urban MTB ride (combining streets, bike path, singletrack, and shortcuts across grassy reseres/parks).
One area which I thought was lacking and would have me using almost every ride would be estimated time and/or km’s remaining. for the route and for the “return to start” option. This would give me the best chance of working how much further/longer or which route to take for the return journey when in slightly unfamiliar or areas with many possible routes home. Another benefit of this would be the ability to provide an estimate to a wife/babysitter/friend you are meeting after the ride.

SJN08

Like some others, I wrongly assumed that when mentioned above Strava will “keep you on course” after you create a route it would do so with verbal cues…actually that’s the whole reason I decided to try strava out in the first place. Overall like the design of the app and the information breakdown it provides. If Strava can give me verbal directions for those long runs, I would use it exclusively. Otherwise in my opinion mapmyrun and nike+ both offer better route planning features and more already created route options to choose from. Not very useful to be constantly checking your map while running/biking for obvious reasons…

Adam Jankowski

So I have been searching for weeks for a app that allows audio turn by turn directions, ability to create/load route/share maps, play music, and the keep the screen off. THIS IS THE BIGGEST THING PERFORMANCE CYCLISTS WANT… Can someone please say FU*K YOU to Google Maps and just create an app. I dont care if my phone has to be unlocked I just want an app such as this. Will anyone listen to the demands of cyclists?

veganer

Strava is no longer allowing me to load my results onto Facebook from my iPhone 6. I now have to use my laptop to do such. Anyone else having problems like this?

Criggie

I was following the red line on a route and the blue line showed where I’d been. It was working well until I got a text message, and from that point on the blue line stopped following me.

Once that happened, the “autocenter on location” didn’t work either. This was on an iphone 4.

For those complaining about phones in bags and pockets, get a top-tube holder or a handlebar holder. Also helps with the GPS signal and with keeping the phone from getting sweaty.

For those who find their batteries aren’t coping, get a power brick. I have a small 12V SLA battery and a car 12V to 2x USB adapter in an old drink bottle that sits in a bottle carrier. This runs my camera and my phone for ~2 hours, then they revert to their internal batteries.

Jessica

And offline maps and turn by turn navigation with voice guidance?
When these features is in Strava I got the premium account.

Todd Singleton

Map my Ride routes make Strava’s seem completely useless. Turn by turn navigation is the whole point. So I record the ride on my Edge, use Map my Ride on my phone for new routes exclusively for the navigation. If Strava is not employing a few developers to work on routes exclusively they are not focusing on the audience. Seems routes have been in “beta” for a long time around here. I am going to cancel my Premium account with Strava (I can see my segment ranking etc. without it) and get a cheaper Map my Ride paid account specifically because of the added route functionality.

Francisco

Is there Audio on Strava yet?

Christian Lanctot

SO I’M SUPPOSED TO SHARE WITH 150 PEOPLE?

We’re organizing a ride with 150 cyclists. Lots of them use Strava just not sure which exactly. I created the route for this community ride in Strava. Am I supposed to friend everyone and share it with them? That’s stupid! Why can’t you just do like RUNTASTIC does? Make the route public and then the app has a route search?

Yes, I’ve created the route in RUNTASTIC and I will be encouraging them to use RUNTASTIC instead.

While I’m at it, why can’t you create a route from a GPX route file? RUNTASTIC does it! Strava requires me to import a GPX TRACK as an activity which i can then convert to a route which will mess up all my segment data, challenges etc. THAT’S INCREDIBLY STUPID!

Get with the program STRAVA! You guys are like the VHS of cycling apps; most popular but inferior technology.

Andy

Andy M

I downloaded the app and plotted several different routes around my local area, but I can’t seem to be able to get verbal directions via headphones. Does it have the ability to do this, if so how do I get it to do it?

Steve Wood

Are there any plans to add in turn by turn navigation in the future?

David Cowie

Again to point out, you cannot effectively follow a planned route on the Strava mobile app. 1) Not only does the ‘I-am-here’ cursor not update dynamically 2) the route map does not move with you requiring fingers to move whilst running! and 3) neither do you offer a trail up view or orientation. How can this be usable when running or cycling in unfamiliar places? (which is mostly where you need the route). Is the Strava Marketing department speaking to the Strava Developers? I think not.

David Cowie

Can you separate the heatmap for runs and cycles in the Route builder? When I am plotting a run it doesn’t make sense to see the cycle heat map and vice-versa.